Inhaltsbereich

Guiding Economic Decisions

Human decisions on consumption, education and financial investments are often distorted by behavioral biases that lead to undesirable outcomes. Economist and Nobel laureate Richard Thaler argues to nudge people into the right direction without restricting their choice sets. Psychologist Ralph Hertwig criticizes this approach and argues to empower people to take better decisions, a concept called "boosting". How to guide economic decisions raises important psychological, economic and philosophical questions and has profound economic policy implications. The Munich Experimental Laboratory for Economic and Social Sciences (MELESSA) was founded in 2008 by 15 professors from four different faculties of LMU Munich with the support of the Excellence Initiative.